Lending to the French

[audio]

In my experience lending things to the French do not get returned.

Everything I have lent out including books, DVDs, tools and even a VCR have not been returned without a demand many months later.

Good job I haven’t lent anyone my car.

Now I just say non, désolé.

Does French for lend mean the same as gift?

[Clair]

[quote user="audio"]In my experience lending things to the French do not get returned.

Everything I have lent out including books, DVDs, tools and even a VCR have not been returned without a demand many months later.

Good job I haven’t lent anyone my car.

Now I just say non, désolé.

Does French for lend mean the same as gift?[/quote]

Ouch!! Sweeping generalisation alert!! [:-))]

Do as I do: if I value it, I don't lend it... regardless of the nationality of the potential borrower [;-)]

An English (former) friend asked to borrow an album she had heard about, only to return it with bits of cornflakes stuck to it!

(Should I say 'never lend to the Brits' right now? [:P])

[audio]

[quote user="Clair"][quote user="audio"]In my experience lending things to the French do not get returned. Everything I have lent out including books, DVDs, tools and even a VCR have not been returned without a demand many months later. Good job I haven’t lent anyone my car. Now I just say non, désolé. Does French for lend mean the same as gift?[/quote]

Ouch!! Sweeping generalisation alert!! [:-))]

Do as I do: if I value it, I don't lend it... regardless of the nationality of the potential borrower [;-)]

An English (former) friend asked to borrow an album she had heard about, only to return it with bits of cornflakes stuck to it!

(Should I say 'never lend to the Brits' right now? [:P])

[/quote]

 

At least it was returned.

[Clair]

[quote user="audio"]

[quote user="Clair"][quote user="audio"]In my experience lending things to the French do not get returned. Everything I have lent out including books, DVDs, tools and even a VCR have not been returned without a demand many months later. Good job I haven’t lent anyone my car. Now I just say non, désolé. Does French for lend mean the same as gift?[/quote]

Ouch!! Sweeping generalisation alert!! [:-))]

Do as I do: if I value it, I don't lend it... regardless of the nationality of the potential borrower [;-)]

An English (former) friend asked to borrow an album she had heard about, only to return it with bits of cornflakes stuck to it!

(Should I say 'never lend to the Brits' right now? [:P])

[/quote]

 

At least it was returned.

[/quote]Unusable... She should have kept it...

[Weedon]

The Greeks are much worse! They have borrowed money from lots of countries which they have no intention of paying back, so I wouldn't be too concerned about loaning a book or a CD to anyone.

As for somebody returning an album with cornflakes stuck to it...how common. I'd make sure that very expensive Jordan's meuesli was stuck there before returning it.

[Clair]

[quote user="Weedon"]As for somebody returning an album with cornflakes stuck to it...how common. I'd make sure that very expensive Jordan's meuesli was stuck there before returning it.[/quote]

[:P]

[Quillan]

I remember Shakespeare's Polonius saying something like "Never a lender or a borrower be as often it looses itself and friend", well something like that, it's been a long time since I last read it. Anyway, whatever, the best way is not to borrow and not to lend, especially to friends, saves a lot of grief.

[idun]

[:-))] We usually got things back, and we gave things back, apart from a tea towel that I have found recently and is not mine.

If you are unhappy, then say no, these are your things and it is up to you. 

 

 

 

 

[NormanH]

Since property is theft these people are helping you to redistribute your wealth more equitably.[6]

You may consider that statement ridiculous, but it is no more preposterous than your selecting a particular nationality for your accusation.

[audio]

[quote user="NormanH"]Since property is theft these people are helping you to redistribute your wealth more equitably.[6]

You may consider that statement ridiculous, but it is no more preposterous than your selecting a particular nationality for your accusation.
[/quote]

Firstly, yes I do consider your opening statement ridiculous.

If I wanted to distribute my wealth, letting someone use my possessions for a short time doesn’t come into it.  I merely asked if the French people know the difference between something one lends and something one accepts as a ‘lifetime’ gift.

 

“The best lack all conviction, while the worst are full of passionate intensity” – just what are you trying to say – in your usual confusing, but polite way, of course?

 I think you have a yearning to be a soothsayer.

 

[NormanH]

It's a very well-known quotation from "The Second Coming" by Yeats, where he uses the image of a bird of prey flying so free from its trainer that it is no longer under control.  He goes on to speak of the 'Mere anarchy'  which  is 'loosed upon the world', then the lines I quote.

http://www.potw.org/archive/potw351.html

I happen to find it as apt for the moral and political  confusion of the present moment as it was pre-Second World War when it was written.

Sorry if it confused you, but yes Yeats did have an almost mystic quality in his personal symbolism

[nomoss]

Are the French very fond of their children? [6]

[mint]

I have not had any problems.  In fact, if I gave the French neighbours something, for example "Passion Rando" a magazine which I get from my walking club, they always ask if I want it back.

OH lent the people next door some gardening shears and they were brought back the following day, as soon they had finished using them.

I think it's like everything else, depends on the borrower.....they range from those who would meticulously return everything and those who wouldn't even mention the loan until you bring it up.  Nothing to do with nationality.....

[Iceni]

Why, has Michael Jackson returned ?

John

[Chancer]

I only know two people (French) that I am happy to lend stuff to, they always look after my things return them promptly in a clean condition often better than when lent, just as I have always done, they also dont treat me as a free hire shop, if they borrow something twice then they will buy their own, I am always happy to get it for them from the UK if it represents a saving but it is me that has to get wind of their plans and suggest it, they wouldnt impose.

As for all the others I have had some dreadfull experiences ranging from simple theft, denial that I have ever lent them something and that the item is not mine but their parents etc, taking things without my permission followed by the above, telling me that I cannot have something back even after 6 months because they are still using it, - these are the tools of my daily labour that remain locked up at neighbours houses because they might just chhose to use them the following weekend.

My brand new DC welder was instantly seized by a neighbour, to be fair I had borrowed his old AC one twice hence me buying my own (I had several weld sets in the UK but not here), I never even got to use it, each time I asked him he said he was still using it but if I wanted to borrow it then I knew where it was in his cave!!! I did indeed, each time I visited it was on the damp floor getting covered in spray and grinding dust, the leads knotted amongst all the other sh1t and bullets, it took 9 months and several ultimatums before it was returned in a terrible state, he had tried to clean it and the box (now rotten from contact with the dirt floor) with thinners to remove the spray dust but just succeeded in removing the current markings, the electrode holder and earth clamp were broken as was my auto darken helmet, after that I always said it was inconvenient to lend him anything non robust so he has often asked me to get him a helmet from the UK, I did last time, it was a bargain price, half that of the one I had just bought myself to keep in the UK, he has yet to pay me for it [:(]

And then there are the knocks on the door "do you want that cuve de fioul, that 3by2 metre sheet of 6mm aluminium, those railway sleepers etc etc etc only...................." the stories of why they need them become more and more inventive but in truth they are either immediately weighed in at the scrapyard or sold on LeBoncoin or a rédérie.

[Owens88]

[quote user="nomoss"]Are the French very fond of their children? [6][/quote]

Is there a 'like' button?